Desktop Computing Environment Best Practices
Get Buy-in
- Find out how much energy your systems are really using and share it with others
- Set practical energy-saving settings for the typical cases
- Establish good processes to manage the inevitable exceptions
- Focus on energy and natural resource savings rather than costs
- Make green computing practices the norm in your area
Promote Energy-saving Behavior
- Share energy-saving information and available sustainable computing materials with your users
- Integrate sustainable computing educational material into training
- Turn electronics off when not in use
- Encourage users to turn computers off at the end of the work day
Buy Smart
- Buy energy-efficient equipment
- Choose more modest specifications for systems that don't require the fastest processor
- Promote laptop purchases
- Replace CRT monitors with LCDs
- Choose recycled paper
Turn Electronics Off When Not in Use
- Encourage users to turn computers off at the end of their work day
- Make power strips available and encourage users to turn them off
- Choose "smart" power strips that have combination outlets (manually switched and always-on), motion sensors and other advanced features
Configure Default Energy-savers
- Set standby/sleep settings
- Allow exceptions for users that need them
- Deploy power management tools and wake-on-LAN services
Re-evaluate the Printing Environment
- Consolidate to fewer, shared printers
- Set double-sided printing as the default to save paper
- Consider charging; "free" printing invites waste
Reuse and Responsibly Recycle Computer Equipment on Campus
U-M Best Practice
- Give older but still working computers to other U-M departments
- Send truly obsolete University equipment to Property Disposition to be disposed of properly
- Contact Occupational Safety and Environmental Health to pick up e-waste (no more than one-year accumulation)
- Encourage users to visit sustainablecomputing.umich.edu